I'm a little heartbroken as I write this - despite using heat, salt and a dosing of Quick Cure (formalin & green malachite), an attack of ich has killed 9 of the 10 fish in my smaller planted tank. The one who's still with me looks in reasonable shape, but I thought that about the two others I found dead this morning.

I realize the ich attack is my fault because I didn't quarantine the one new fish I added. Obviously, I'm going to have to invest in a quarantine tank now because I am not going through this again if I can help it.

I assumed the Quick Cure would also kill my snails and shrimp, but so far that hasn't been the case, happily.

My questions:

1. If my last tetra survives, I know I need to keep the heat and salt treatment up for at least two weeks. Is it then safe to add new fish? How long should I wait?

2. If my last tetra doesn't survive, how long before the tank is ich free? I've read everything from 6 hours to 30 days before the theronts are dead due to no host being available. Do I need to strip it and clean it? Replace the filter? Will the cycle survive with a few snails and a shrimp in there? Do I need to clean or ditch the live plants in any way?

I will say if my last tetra doesn't make it, I'm probably going to pull out all the gravel anyway and redo the tank with sand like my big one.

Ich has to be the most depressing thing that's ever happened to me as a tank owner. Man, it sucks hard.

Pearl2011

05-25-2013 11:22 PM

1. I would keep the treatment for two weeks, then wait another week or so to make sure the tank is disease free. Its a pain, but you dont want any new fish to get sick. On the plus side it gives you plenty of times to set-up a QT tank :)
2. Whenever i've had a fish tank that was wiped out from disease, I took down the tank and bleached everything. My diseases were more serious then ich so I don't think you need to bleach it but I would tank it down and use hot water and let it sit in the sun for a few days. You don't need to replace the filter but (same as the tank) clean it thoroughly and replace all the media.
I wouldn't ditch the plants, I would just leave them in a separate tank (or container or whatever you have) and let any cooties on them die off.

I'm sorry this happened :( Getting a tank wiped out is a huge pain in the you know where.

KPainter

05-26-2013 09:03 AM

Thanks, Pearl. As of this morning, my last tetra is still alive and swimming and looking relatively healthy, so I have hope he's going to make it. I'll have to set up the quarantine tank first, then add him to it before I can strip his current tank and clean it. I'm definitely going to change the substrate too.

Pearl2011

05-26-2013 12:33 PM

Okay let us know how it goes :) Are you doing sand for the substrate?? I love the look of it! :)

KPainter

05-28-2013 08:32 AM

I found my last Von Rio dead this morning. I'm sick about it. I really thought he was going to make it. Clearly nothing I did helped, not the meds, not the salt, not the heat. I don't know what strain of ich this was, but it was deadly and virulent.

I'm in the process of setting up a quarantine tank. Once I have that done I'll move my last shrimp and some of the snails over there, then strip the decimated tank, clean and redo.